PEORIA — If Peoria and a southern African community don’t become sisters, perhaps they can be close cousins.

Jwaneng, Botswana, and Peoria have been cultivating a sister-city relationship for more than a year. But cooperation between the communities doesn’t necessarily need an official seal, Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich suggested last week.

“We want to make sure that this would be the right fit for all of us, because if there’s ways we can help them without a formal sister-city relationship, I think our staff would be more than willing to do that,” Urich said.

“But if we did want to formalize this relationship because of the unique connection to Peoria, there could be some opportunities there.”

The opportunities to which Urich referred are focused around at least three areas in which Peoria could lend technical expertise to Jwaneng. Urich and Mayor Jim Ardis were part of a Peoria delegation that last October visited the settlement of about 18,000 in southern Botswana.

Jwaneng officials have sought advice regarding economic diversification, education and training and social services, Urich told the Peoria Sister City Commission during its quarterly meeting.

“Obviously, when you have a large diamond mine, when you stop mining, what do you do for the town next?” Urich said.

Peoria’s role could include helping Jwaneng take advantage of its location, according to Urich. The city is situated along the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, a major trade route between the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia and the industrial center of South Africa.

Before Urich’s visit to Jwaneng, some Sister City commissioners questioned the potential relationship, which would be Peoria’s fourth. They cited a lack of cultural affiliations, among other things. Urich said Jwaneng officials appear interested in pursuing cultural ties as well as economic ones.

“I think we need to ... have that dialogue with them and see if that’s something they want,” Urich said. “To either formalize as a true sister-city relationship, or if they want to look at this as a technical exchange.”

That might become more clear if Jwaneng officials visit Peoria later this year. Urich suggested a delegation might arrive in June. A visit planned for May 19-23 was postponed because Ardis and the Botswana ambassador to the United States, Tebelelo Mazile Seretse, are unavailable.

Page 2 of 2 - Nick Vlahos can be reached at 686-3285 or nvlahos@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @VlahosNick.